Bill Wenmark, a high school hockey star from Anoka, Minnesota, grew up wanting to become a physician. In 1968, after completing extensive technical medical training and two years in the United States Navy, he was assigned to the United States Naval Academy. It was here that he changed the direction of his life for by volunteering to be transferred to the United States Marine Corps and a tour of duty in Vietnam as a Combat Corpsman. He did so, knowing that his life expectancy in that country was three months. He became a decorated Combat Corpsman in Vietnam from 1969-1970.

Medical Consultant
He returned from Vietnam and continued to work in the medical field. He was one of the first in the country to develop a comprehensive home care program for adults and children with respiratory disease and the first in the country to develop an educational curriculum on home monitoring for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Bill was elected President of the Lung Association and continues to work with the Lung Association as a regular volunteer. In addition, he has taught stop-smoking programs for the Cancer Society, lectured extensively on the prevention and treatment of Lung Disease, is a member of the Governors Council on Fitness and Sport, and is active on issues of fitness and nutrition for children grades K-12.

He is President and CEO of NOW Care Medical Centers and he has five medical centers in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota. He is the first non-physician elected as President of the North American Association for Urgent Care, an organization that represents all urgent care practices of medicine in the United States. Bill has written a 30-chapter "how to" book on urgent care development called "Bill’s Book" and was named 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year in Minnesota by the Twin West Chamber of Commerce for his vision and success in creating NOW Care Urgent Care. For 20 years his vision has redefined patient-focused care and recaptured the role of independent physician practice, which has physician advocates for patients and not physician advocates for systems.

Runner
In his spare time, Bill has run 94 marathons (with a PR of 2:49:39), completed two Ironman Triathlons and run the Leadville Trail 100 with a PR of 28 hours and 39 minutes. Bill now races mountain bikes in the Leadville 100 and plans to finish ten races in order to achieve his 1000-mile gold and silver belt buckle award.

Coach
In addition to all of his activities, Bill is the founder and President of ALARC (American Lung Association Running Club), the largest marathon running club in the United States. In 1981, Bill wrote a 13-week training program for people who desired to run their first marathon and is considered the most successful marathon coach in the United States. He has had over 2,400 students run marathons with only eight not finishing. In his book, The Marathoner, senior Runner’s World writer Hal Higdon dedicates an entire chapter to Bill, "The Man Who Coached 1000 Marathoner’s." Bill has coached many elite athletes including Ron Backus and his best friend, Dick Beardsley. Runner’s World presented Bill with the distinguished national "Golden Shoe Dr. George Sheehan Award," which recognizes unique people who have served "The Human Race" with unselfish dedication.

Author
Bill is frequently featured on radio, television, newspaper, and magazines promoting healthy lifestyles, motivation, public education, and health care. He is a frequent, and very popular, public speaker and travels across the United States speaking to audiences regarding lifestyles, motivation, health care reform, Public Education reform, and Urgent Care Medicine.

Bill is the founder and Race Director of the Edmund Fitzgerald 100K Road Race and Team Relay held in Duluth, Minnesota. Considered to be the Greatest 100K Road Race in North America, it is also known to have the best field the World’s best ultra-runners from over seventeen countries.